All About Stuart Skinner

Photo credit:https://twitter.com/SCBroncos

5 years ago

Since being drafted by Edmonton in the third round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Stuart Skinner has cemented himself in the minds of Oilers fans everywhere. That idea was amplified after Skinner’s very successful 2017-18 season, where he backstopped the Swift Current Broncos to the WHL Championship. This year, Skinner will get his first taste of professional hockey as he looks to continue his development and take the next step towards the ultimate goal of playing for the Edmonton Oilers. So what do the Oilers have in Skinner? Let’s find out.

BIO:

Position: Goalie — Catches: Left
Born: November 1st, 1998 — City: Edmonton, Alberta
Height: 6 feet 3 inch — Weight: 205 lbs [185 cm/93 kg]

Drafted: 78th overall (third round) in 2017

Junior: Swift Current Broncos — League: WHL

NEWS AND SCOUTING REPORTS

Continuing with the tradition of our prospect profiles, we looked around the web to find varying scouting reports and analysis of Skinner to try and figure out what exactly the Oilers have in him. With expectations as high as they are for the young netminder, we felt it was important to look for a balanced evaluation of his skill set to give us a better idea of what type of player he is and could turn out to be.

Jason Gregor spoke about Stuart Skinner last week when he profiled the Oilers Top 10 prospects that are currently in the system.

He will be able to work with Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz every off-season in Edmonton. That should be a huge advantage for him. Goalies are extremely difficult to project, but Stuart has all the tools to push for an NHL job in the future. Odds are we won’t see Skinner in the NHL for at least three or four years. Last year only seven goalies 24 years old and under played 25 NHL games. Juuse Saros (22) played 25 games. Tristan Jarry (22) played 26, Matt Murray (23) played 49, John Gibson (24) played 60, Andre Vasilevskiy (23) played 65 and Connor Hellebuyck (24) played 66 games. Patience will be a must for Skinner’s development.

Late last year, Tyler Yaremchuk had the chance to chat with Stuart Skinner about what it was like to be drafted by the team he grew up cheering for and where he sees his career heading.

“Definitely one of the best moments of my life,” said a smiling Stuart Skinner when I asked him about being selected 78th overall by his hometown team, the Edmonton Oilers.
“It was pretty cool hearing my name and I was kind of shocked about it” added the 18-year-old puck stopper. “Once I put on that jersey, it was kind of a surreal feeling.”

From Dobber Prospects:

His numbers with the Broncos are undoubtedly impressive but there is some concern on whether or not he is a product of playing on such a strong team. Regardless, the Oilers have to be hoping that they can groom Skinner to be their goaltender of the future. It‘s important to note that the Oilers haven‘t developed an NHL goaltender since they drafted Devan Dubnyk 14th overall in 2004

The Draft Analyst:

Goalies rarely hurt their reputations from a TPG since the event is normally low scoring. Skinner, who had a tough start to his season, entered the TPG with a chance to confirm how solid his play of late has been (he’s faced 30 or more shots in 29 of 44 appearances, including 13 with over 39 shots against). What stood out most was Skinner’s rebound control in a game featuring great scoring chances with traffic milling around the low slot. His ability to track shots from the release point helped, but his quickness and butterfly timing allowed him to absorb several high-quality chances.

Skinner spoke about the bond between goaltending prospects after wrapping up this year’s development camp:

We’re a really tight group. All these guys are great guys, professional, hard workers.
It’s Rodrigue’s first NHL camp. Seeing him on the ice, he’s a special goalie out there. Same with Starret and Wellsy.
I love those guys, they are really great guys and we have a great friendship.

PRE-DRAFT RANKINGS

NHL Central Scouting: 5th (NA, Final)
NHL Central Scouting: 9th (NA, Mid-term)
Bob McKenzie: 57th
Craig Button: 79th
ISS: Unranked

VIDEO AND HIGHLIGHTS

An in-depth highlight package from Stuart Skinner’s 2017-18 season”

The WHL put together a highlight package for Skinner after his season wrapped up.

Skinner’s post-draft interview:

A highlight package from the 2016-17 season:

SEASON STATS

SEASON	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	GAA	SVS%	GP	GAA	SVS%
2011-12	SSAC Lions Bantam AAA	AMBHL	18	2.59	.910	11	2.60	.900
2012-13	SSAC Lions Bantam AAA	AMBHL	21	1.75	.929	11	1.45	.947
2013-14	SSAC Athletics Midget AAA	AMHL	20	2.74	.916
	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	4	5.17	.866
2014-15	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	43	3.69	.909
	Canada Black U17	WHC-17	3	4.05	.859
2015-16	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	44	2.73	.920	4	3.76	.862
	Canada U18	WJC-18	3	2.82	.860
2016-17	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	60	3.26	.905	20	3.09	.916
2017-18	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	31	3.38	.897
	Swift Current Broncos	WHL	25	2.68	.914	26	2.20	.932

TOURNAMENT STATS

SEASON	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	GAA	SVS%
2012-13	Team Edmonton South	Alberta Cup	3	2.83	.882
2013-14	Team Alberta	WCCC-16	2	2.00	.895
2014-15	Team Black	U17-Dev	3	3.21	.915
2015-16	Team White	U18-Dev	3	4.60	.788
2017-18	Swift Current Broncos	M-Cup	3	4.02	.902
	WHL All-Stars	Canada/Russia Series	1	4.16	.879

Stats provided by Elite Prospects

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